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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29315136">and the stars do watch us</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlebluewhalen/pseuds/littlebluewhalen'>littlebluewhalen</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Miraculous Ladybug</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Comfort, Fluff, Friendship, Insomnia, Marichat | Adrien Agreste as Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Pining, can u tell i cant sleep lately, feelings they dont quite yet understand, late-night talks are the best talks, s3 references kind of, talks of mental health</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 09:15:12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,180</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29315136</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlebluewhalen/pseuds/littlebluewhalen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Marinette bakes, Chat Noir stops by to talk. If walls were sentient, her balcony could write a book - but only in the late hours of the night, when neither of them can sleep. marichat.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>92</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>and the stars do watch us</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>hi ~ if you can't tell by now, the formula for all of my stories are a bit of [my life problems imposed onto my favorite characters] + [what I wish the solution was] = [nonsensical one-shot]. I tried to make this one feel like a fever dream as best I could, because that's what not being able to sleep for weeks at a time feels like. I hope I captured the feeling of this struggle well enough in this oneshot. And if not, well, there's always next time. <br/>Enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The railing rattled lightly behind her, interrupting the dead silence of the night, pulling her from her thoughts, dragging her eyes from their hold on the ground before her.</p>
<p>Before she could even see or hear or smell him, she sensed him. She felt the metal shake behind her as he dropped lightly onto her balcony, making no noise, sliding with practiced ease. She pushed a plate of chocolate croissants out in response, and she finally turned, greeting him with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes.</p>
<p>He sat across from her, his tail flicking lightly, a sign she knew meant he had something to say but was refraining. She gazed at him, watching him through exhausted eyes; the way his ears flicked to any noise, the way his golden hair bushed out around his head, the way his green eyes seemed forced to be focused on only the croissants. The moonlight shined on his black suit and gave him an almost ethereal glow, she mused.</p>
<p>“Can’t sleep again?” He spoke, suddenly but quietly, almost a hum. She made a noise and looked back to her sketchbook that she almost forgotten she even had.</p>
<p>“Well, you clearly can’t.” She replied, jokingly if you looked hard enough, but made no mention of how she knew he’d come. She felt that the readied plate of croissants would suffice. He simply sighed and nodded, and she wondered if the mask hid his own exhaustion.</p>
<p>“Anything on your mind?” He asked, quieter still, nibbling on a croissant he’d grabbed delicately from the plate between them. The girl across from him shrugged, and she finally looked up – briefly at him, then to the stars – and stayed quiet.</p>
<p>“Just a night owl now, I suppose.” She murmured, staring at the heaven of stars that made the well-past midnight sky.</p>
<p>She’d had her fairy lights on at one point, but she turned them off once the hour hit two in the morning to see the sheet of stars that covered her head, trying to pick out constellations and galaxy formations.</p>
<p>She loved and appreciated Chat, she really did. But she couldn’t very well talk to him about how exhausting dealing with Lila was, along with being Ladybug, and being the Guardian. But he always stayed with her regardless of if she talked, and she appreciated it more than she could probably ever tell him.</p>
<p>For his part, he nodded and polished off his croissant.</p>
<p>“Yeah. I think having the powers for so long take a toll on Ladybug and I. I can feel myself becoming nocturnal with every day.” He said, backing away a bit to sit against the wall of her house. She nodded absent-mindedly.</p>
<p>“Are cats nocturnal or crepuscular?” She said, and he smiled, ever slightly.</p>
<p>“Well Princess, look at you knowing your chat facts. You’re right, they’re crepuscular, unfortunately.” He replied, grabbing another croissant. She snorted.</p>
<p>“When do you sleep then?” She asked, pulling her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around them, settling her head on top to look at him.</p>
<p>“I don’t.” He joked, but his tail flipped in a way that told her he probably wasn’t joking. Her heart sank.</p>
<p>“What about you?” He quipped back, his ears flicking. She stared at him; really looked at him, imagined how tired his eyes would be without magic green of Plagg, how dark his bags would be under the mask.</p>
<p>“I don’t.” She teased back, but it came out flat, and way more honest than she’d like to admit. Chat sighed, and he tore his eyes away, to the sky, and bumped his head against the wall.</p>
<p>“At least I have an excuse. I feel so wired during the night and the waking hours of morning, and I fall asleep during the day in my classes, and on the job. Perks of being a cat, I guess. Even though I can’t really tell anyone that, so, some excuse that is.” He said aloud, to the open sky, to the darkness that held all of the secrets they’ve shared over the past few weeks. Marinette bit her lip.</p>
<p>“If you’re crepuscular, can you go to bed in the evenings and do your homework during the night and morning when you’re awake?” She asked, genuinely curious. He shrugged.</p>
<p>“I wish I could, but my dad keeps my schedule pretty tightly packed until it’s time for bed. If I’m not working after school into the evening, I’m being tutored, or doing a sport. I can sleep a bit on weekends, but then I have to do my homework and work. Chat Noir’s lifestyle just doesn’t fit my own, I guess.” Marinette nodded lightly; she knew he had a lot on his plate, but he didn’t sound bitter or angry, just resigned. She wondered how he even had time for friends if he was already so busy and so exhausted; she wondered off-handedly if their time together was the only time he was with a friend outside of school. </p>
<p>“I sleep a lot during class. I can’t really tell anyone why, I just can’t sleep at night. My parents are starting to worry though, I know.” She said something just to say it, her mind working hard to form coherent thoughts as it sluggishly moved miles behind her unfiltered mouth.</p>
<p>Chat Noir hummed, an acknowledgement, but never a judgement. He nudged the plate of croissants towards her.</p>
<p>“You done already, kitty?” She asked, raising an eyebrow. He shrugged.</p>
<p>“I actually caught dessert with a friend after work today. I was allowed, surprisingly. Though you know I always a-purr-eciate you, Princess.”</p>
<p>Marinette rolled her eyes, but she allowed a smile – a ghost of one, really- to alight her face, and Chat Noir preened.</p>
<p>“Get off my balcony if you’re going to make awful puns.” She joked, her head hitting the railing behind her, her eyes closing slightly.</p>
<p>“You look like you’re about to fall asleep where you’re sitting. Why don’t we wrap up a bit early tonight?” He asked, moving closer to her, sitting beside her.</p>
<p>“As soon as you leave, I won’t be able to sleep, so it doesn’t really matter. I don’t mind if you stay.” She replied, cracking her eyes open and lolling her head around her shoulders to meet his gaze. He was looking at her so softly, so fondly, and she was struck.</p>
<p>“If only I could stay here and let you have the best night of sleep in your life.” He joked, moving closer and closer still, until he was only a breath’s away – and he went to her side and wrapped a leather-clad arm around her shoulders, pulling her to his chest, careful not to scratch her with his claws. She fell into the semi-hug immediately, the hand that wasn’t on the ground between them settling on the expanse of his chest, his suit cool to the touch.</p>
<p>“If I pet your ears, will you start purring?” She almost-whispered, a strained sort of noise in the silence between them. She felt more than heard his body heave a laugh.</p>
<p>“Purr-obably. I’m starting to think you should get an actual cat, Mari.” He responded, his voice so low, so close to her ear. She inhaled a deep, calming breath (and ignored how her heart flipped with the tender, genuine nickname) and moved a hand slowly towards his head, rifling her fingers through his golden hair, and he sighed. His head thumped on top of hers in contentment.</p>
<p>“You’re probably right on that, kitty.” She replied, pressing her ear to his chest as his rumbles started, soothing her in a way nothing else has been able to.</p>
<p>“I do wish you could stay.” She murmured, her hand stilling. She felt Chat smile into her hair.</p>
<p>“I wish I could too. Maybe one day, when Hawkmoth is done for.” He suggested, and she knew what he was implying; when he and Ladybug would be rendered useless and he wouldn’t have to hide who he was anymore. She could feel the weight of his words in her heart, because somewhere along the line, she’d starting hoping for that day, too.</p>
<p>Aside from wanting Hawkmoth to stop wreaking havoc on France at large, fighting him multiple times a week, unrelentingly, had taken a toll on her – on she and Chat both.</p>
<p>They were 17 now, and there were many close calls between the Miraculous-wielders and Hawkmoth, but they’ve never been able to take him entirely down. It would be coming soon, she knew; she could feel it within her. And though she liked what her life was, and she liked being Ladybug, she would be excited to be able to be Ladybug on her own terms; to be able to live her life as Marinette again, to be able to relax, to not have to hide, to not feel this constant stress and anxiety. She knew it had damaged them both to a degree.</p>
<p>Marinette was on alert constantly and she sure Chat was, too. Akumas have happened in the dead of night, in the early morning, many times – her heightened senses and sensitivity to the weather and seasons didn’t help, either. She knew that both she and Chat had developed anxieties that kept them up; Marinette herself could sleep only a few hours each night and Tikki could only help so much to keep her from losing her grip on reality completely. Between trying to stay on top of her schoolwork and work on portfolios for university, helping out with her parent’s bakery and dealing with Lila’s bullying – not to mention managing the Kwamis as the Guardian and doing her regular duties as Ladybug – Marinette was spread as thin as she possibly could be. The only people there to help keep her on track were Tikki, her parents, and her friends (which was, admittedly, a very different, and very small group compared to only years prior).</p>
<p>That would all be well and fine if she could just <em>sleep</em> when she was supposed to. But instead, here she was, on her balcony with Chat Noir four hours before she was supposed to wake up for school, not quite knowing what was real and what was a dream.</p>
<p>Chat always helped, though. He had a way to lull her to sleep that she couldn’t fathom; she wasn’t sure if it was because she felt safer with him or if it was the kwami magic rushing over her with each adorable, comforting purr, but she was intensely grateful he’d started coming around.</p>
<p>It was a few weeks – or maybe months, she supposed – she’d lost track of time a long time ago – since he first appeared, looking every bit like a lost alley cat.</p>
<p>She’d been up at 4 in the morning, pacing her balcony just to do <em>something</em> when he’d jumped onto her roof, startling her with a smile and a sly comment, and he’d come back most nights since. They talked, usually, about anything and everything, whatever they could without Chat giving too much away.</p>
<p>When these sleepless nights started becoming more frequent, she took to quietly night baking; she was skilled enough to do her favorite recipes with ease and cleaned up her mess immediately, so her parents were none the wiser to her late-night antics. It worked out for her, as she could never finish that many sweets, especially not this late at night, when she was usually already nauseous from being up for so long. Chat always ate them with vigor, and whatever he didn’t finish, she’d give to Adrien the next day; she figured they both had pretty strict diets that didn’t include many treats, so she was always happy to make something.</p>
<p>She used to bake for her class, but that all really stopped when Lila had started consistently going to their school and she stopped talking to most of her old friends –</p>
<p>“Alright, Mari?” that low voice caught her for a moment, shaking her from her sleep-deprived thoughts, unknowingly pulling her from a dark place before she could even get there. The arm around her shoulders tightened their grip a bit, and before she could ask how he knew (or think about the fluttering in her heart), she realized she had slid her arm over his torso and was gripping it – tightly, she realized, letting go.</p>
<p>“Yeah, thanks, Chaton.” She mumbled, burying her face deeper into his chest, curling into him more. He sucked in a breath and ran his lips over the top of her hair lightly.</p>
<p>“For what?” He asked, and she ignored the stuttering of her heart at the touch. She noticed that they’d slid down slightly from the wall.</p>
<p>“Just being here, I guess.” She replied through a haze of sleep, and he smiled.</p>
<p>“I always will be.”</p>
<p>“Sap.”</p>
<p>“Only for you~” He sang, and she huffed a laugh- a real, actual laugh. It was a step.</p>
<p>They lapsed back into silence for a moment, and Marinette was losing her filter to sleep – finally, at 3:42 in the morning.</p>
<p>“I wish I could make a bed out here so we could actually get some sleep or something.” She said, directly into his chest. If it weren’t for his powered hearing, he wouldn’t have heard her at all. His heart skipped a beat and his face turned red under his mask.</p>
<p>“Ah yes, so all of Paris could see one of its great heroes cuddling a civilian. That would go over really well, I think.” He said, seriously. Marinette snorted – an almost-laugh, but he’ll take it – and he frowned.</p>
<p>“What? You don’t think your parents would be totally thrilled to see their daughter bundled up with a superhero on their balcony on national TV?” He asked, sounding genuinely curious, and she laughed, slapping him lightly.</p>
<p>“Better than going to wake me up in the morning and seeing him in my bed, I suppose.” She replied, and Chat ignored the way his heart flip-flopped in his chest. He shook his head lightly, his blonde hair bouncing around him.</p>
<p>“Maybe one day, Princess. But for now, I suppose this will do.” Chat replied, a bit too gently, a bit too seriously, not wholly knowing what he’d implied, and yawned deeply. Marinette’s brain sputtered to a stop and rebooted itself back to life, parsing through his sentence with the speed of a train chugging uphill, before giving up entirely.</p>
<p>That would be a problem for a slightly-more-rested her tomorrow.</p>
<p>Marinette yawned back.</p>
<p>“Are you going to be okay to go home?” Marinette asked, and Chat shrugged.</p>
<p>“Yeah, I’ll be fine. The cold air’ll wake me up.” He replied, slightly slurring his words in sleep. Marinette frowned.</p>
<p>“But you’re so close to sleeping. If you run home, you’ll just stay awake for another two hours.” She replied, moving her head up to look at him slightly, though she really couldn’t do much from her angle.</p>
<p>“Well, I think we just covered the fact that I can’t sleep here.” Chat said, and she moved up, off of him – just a bit, just to look at him – settling on her knees in front of him. His arm slipped from her shoulder to her waist and he scooted up and sat back against her railing, his hands falling completely.</p>
<p>“Are you sure it’s okay that you come visit so often? I really don’t want to impede on your already shitty sleep schedule.” She said, a bit more awake now, looking at him with concern and more care than he could process.</p>
<p>“Well, yeah. I mean… I would just be sitting at home alone right now if I wasn’t here, and I probably wouldn’t get to sleep any sooner. I’d prefer to be here.” He responded. He didn’t want to tell her that she kept his mind off of bad thoughts he hated having, off of late-night ‘what-ifs’ and memories he didn’t want to relive.</p>
<p>She looked at him – really looked at him with clear bluebell eyes, without the haze of sleep or sleeplessness – examining him for the truth. She must have been satisfied with what she saw, because she shrugged, and her hands came up to his shoulders, resting on them lightly.</p>
<p>“I’ll try to figure something out so you don’t have to run home all the time.” She said, and Chat smiled, because that’s how she sounded when she was determined, and even though they both knew there was literally nothing she could do – secrets and identities were too important to risk losing over sleep – he knew she would try her damndest to stick to that. He grinned at her, a Cheshire grin in the early morning sky, almost as bright as the stars blanketing the ink sky above them.</p>
<p>“I expect to have my own room when I swing by next.” He replied, and she smiled at him; a smile that reached her eyes, finally.</p>
<p>“Get home before you get any sleepier, chaton. Do you want to take these with you? I can wrap them up.” She asked, squeezing his shoulders before getting to her feet and grabbing the plate of croissants off of the ground. He ignored the desperate yearning in his heart to have her close again, to wrap his arms around her and hold her against him. He shook his head; he wanted to point out that she’d just unknowingly give them to him tomorrow during class anyway, because she was just a great person all-around, but he refrained.</p>
<p>“Nah, I don’t need my dad finding them. Thanks though, Princess.” He replied, standing up as well. She looked over him once and nodded lightly, setting them on the endtable by her window, and turning back to him. Her eyes roved over his figure and she noticed, as she almost always did nowadays, how much he’d grown over the years; how much broader his shoulders had gotten, how much taller he was, how much his suit changed. Her heart clenched unwillingly when she realized that he’d really been by her side as both Ladybug and as Marinette for years now.</p>
<p>She willed those thoughts away and stepped towards him, reaching up and giving him a hug around his neck. He froze for a moment, but snaked his arms around her waist, pulling her closer, hugging her tighter.</p>
<p>“Get home safe, okay?” She whispered right by his ear, and she breathed a laugh as his cat ears twitched.</p>
<p>“Of course, Marinette. I always do. Goodnight, purr-incess.” He returned, before squeezing her once more and stepping back, forcing her to let go of his neck.</p>
<p>“Goodnight. See you soon?” She asked as he turned to leave. He perched on her railing and took out his staff, ready to jump.</p>
<p>“Of course. Soon.” He replied warmly, smiling at her before taking off.</p>
<p>She watched him leave, staring as he went, before moving across her balcony almost robotically, all energy spent, any traces of amusement gone. She picked up the croissants to wrap them for Adrien in the morning and moved to her bed, where she actually fell asleep, dreamless and deep.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>pls ignore any spelling errors as I literally wrote this at 3 am when I couldn't sleep and just quickly reviewed it the morning before work. Thanks &lt;3</p>
<p>song inspiration:<br/>Fiend - Ark Patrol<br/>Honey (Medasin remix) - KUCKA<br/>Mona Lisa Lamborghini - The Grinns</p></blockquote></div></div>
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